“The Kiss” By Kate Chopin

Things and People are not always as they appear to be on the first sight that is why we have to examine them in different ways otherwise they may mislead us. That is more then true in the short story “The Kiss” by Kate Chopin in which she uses imagery, irony and simile to show us how deceitful a person can be. She tells us by the actions of her characters that a person should not be judged solely by his or her appearance or words because those things can be dangerously misleading. All of the characters in Chopin story play their own games and in more or less visible way try to manipulate others to achieve their own sometimes not very righteous goals, but who will eventually succeed in realizing his desires in this world of deception and manipulation.

First and most visibly seen player in the story is Miss Nathalie which is introduced to us by Chopin when she sits in her house on a chair in the firelight and strokes “the satin coat of the cat that lay curled in her lap”. This is a very effective simile as through it we start to see what kind of person she is. And Miss Nathalie is a intelligent, crafty and shrewd woman which very well knows how and when to act or pretend and even more when to use her charm so that she can get everything she wants and that is the love of handsome but not to wealthy Mr. Harvey with whom she secretly meets and the money of not to attractive but “enormously rich” Mr. Brantain whom she wants to marry. We see her acting skills and her charm in use when after an unfortunate accident of Mr. Harvey kissing her in Mr. Brantain presence she comes up with a story of the kiss being only innocent brother and sister-like intimacy which to her great delight Brantain seems to believe whiteout any questions. Later during their wedding when Harvey comes to her saying that he spoke with her husband and he sent him over to kiss her Miss Nathalie feels that she achieved both her goals and sees herself as a “chess player who, by the clever handling of his pieces, sees the game taking the course intended”. But moments later we learn that not everything went as she wanted when Harvey tells her that he won’t be meeting with her any more because he “stopped kissing women; it's dangerous”.

Second little manipulator in the story is Mr. Harvey, the secret lover of Miss Nathalie whom we first meet when he because of supposedly not seeing Mr. Brantain sitting in the shadow, gives Nattie a passionate kiss after with shocked Brantain leaves the room and Nathalie not able to stop him becomes furious. Harvey tries to persuade her that he did not see the other man sitting there “Hang me if I saw him sitting there, Nattie!” but in fact he quite well knew that he is there as well as he had to know about their talks that lasted for past two weeks. And so, the kiss was a provocation as we see on Harvey face “a little amusement and some defiance struggling with the confusion in his face” that meant to show Brantain that Nattie is taken and to finally force her into a situation in which she would have to decide with whom does she want to be and for what she cares more, money or love. Unfortunately for him she chooses money and got married whit the man who had them thus giving Harvey no other choice then to leave her as he did not want to have an affair whit her but rather wanted to have her for himself.